The World's Best Solar Home

Virginia Tech's FutureHaus team accepting their win for World's Best Solar Home in Dubai

After years of hard work and research (and with the help of the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation’s $150,000 donation), the team of sixty-five students and faculty from Virginia Tech won the competition as the only team from the United States. They rose above fourteen other teams from the competition in Dubai, and succeeded in building the world’s best solar home.

The project placed in eight out of ten contests throughout the weeks-long competition, and won two special awards, separate from the decathlon. But most importantly? First place overall. This means they get to bring their prize of $250,000 USD back to the States to support funding for FutureHAUS™ and similar projects.

Dominion Energy became involved with FutureHAUS™ when former intern — and now full-time employee — Matthew Boys, a member of the FutureHAUS™ team, applied for a grant from the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation to support the project.

As you may have read on our website, the project holds a lot of promise for the future of housing. In the full release from Virginia Tech, David Christian, former chief innovation officer for Dominion Energy, explains the significance of a win like this, all the way from Dubai.

“The house reflects a tremendous amount of thought and work, all kinds of details and all kinds of innovations,” Christian said. “Dominion Energy is an innovative company, and becoming even more innovative as we speak, so participating in a project like this — it’s just a double benefit. It’s win-win.”

Congratulations,FutureHAUS™ team and Dominion Energy employee, Matthew Boys! However monumental, we think this win is just the beginning.